By Shawn Perry
Today, as I write this, I recall meeting Mick Jones and the rest of Foreigner on this exact date 21 years ago. It was backstage at Madison Square Garden and I was working with Vanilla Fudge at the 40th anniversary concert for Atlantic Records. There were so many acts on the bill, pretty much everyone had to share a dressing room. As it turned out, Vanilla Fudge was paired up with Foreigner.
I spoke briefly with Jones, singer Lou Gramm, bassist Rick Wills and their backstage visitor David Gilmour before Foreigner’s performance. After a handful of tunes, they returned, asking everyone within earshot to join them for the encore of “I Want To Know What Love Is.” Somehow, I ended up on stage, standing next to Phil Collins and Roberta Flack, singing the chorus of one of the biggest hits of the 80s. Who would have guessed I’d be talking to the song’s author again so many years later.
I reminded Jones of that night in New York City, and he laughed as he told me about the trials and tribulations surrounding the band at that time. But what seemed to excite him the most was the current incarnation of Foreigner, featuring a seasoned, yet youthful cast of musicians who have helped recharge their leader’s creative batteries. Touring steadily for a mixed audience of young and older, Foreigner is also recording their first album of all new songs in 15 years. To borrow the title of Foreigner’s 2008 2-CD career compilation, “no end in sight” is a good way to describe Jones as he pushes forward unabated and willfully optimistic.
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